Slayers Nightmares
by Iceo Aion
Summary: Lina and Gourry find new traveling companions. Will this be an improvement, or is the old group better? Discontinued
1. Old and New Friends

Slayers Nightmares

We find our hero dressed in her usual robes in a bush

It's night, Day 4 of my hoard. In the city of Lydon, in the outer world of course, there have been a major bandit group stealing treasure left and right. Naturally, I felt challenged and decided to stick around and hoard them.

I has spent a few days scoping out the camp. It was the most heavely guarded camp Lina has ever seen. _This is going to be difficult, _I thought. Ever since she destroyed Darkstar, her talismans haven't worked at all. So she's been attacking bandit camps left and right to find another set.

"Heh," I whispered to herself. "I feel a little powerless without the power to cast the Ragna Blade, but I plan on getting it back ASAP." As I spoke, I was preparing to take her plan into action, when suddenly, I was grabbed and dragged a little bit away from the camp. The grip was strong, stronger than Gourry's, so she couldn't look at who grabbed her.

The grip finally let go of me. When she whirled around, she was face to face with, what she thought, a _kid._

He was definitely a kid. He was just a little shorter than me, and medium build. He was wearing a typical pair of robes and pants, except they were green. A green cape was loosely worn on his shoulders.

The oddest part of his feature was his hair. It was light blue with a hint of silver. Then there was his staff. It was taller then him, pure iron, and had crescent blades on both ends.

"Who the –"

"Shush up or you'll reveal our hiding place," he whispered.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing?" Lina whispered back.

"My name is Ian, and as for my purpose, I'm here to help you break into that camp you were about to go into," he responded.

That got Lina furious. "Who said I needed your help?!"

"From what I assumed, you were going to cast a fireball into the camp and blow everything up. The problem with that plan is each bandit can cast barriers on themselves, even if that is the only spell they can cast. A mere fireball won't work on three quarters of them."

"What?" was all Lina could sputter out. _Bandits with magic? That's like saying Gourry has a brain._ He was asleep at the hotel, of course.

"My idea is much more effective," he started to explain. "We have to look like merchants so they think we have something valuble on us. As an extra bonus, we also have a girl almost any boy will drool over." He looked at Lina with a bit of lust.

"Okay, Number One: Don't flirt with me like that again or I'll blast you into next century! Number Two: If we're working together, I want at least sixty percent of the plunder!"

"It's fifty-fifty or no deal," he stated. This was not light talk..

"Okay, but the treasure better be big," Lina replied.

After a little preparing, they were walking near the camp in merchant clothes. Lina was wearing a rare looking cape with silver lining. Other than that, she was wearing what she usually wore. Ian was wearing a vest over his basic clothes and had a good sized sack over his shoulder.

"Hey," a bandit said as they passed by. "Give us everything you have or die."

Lina had to swallow some pride for that one. Ian looked like it didn't bother him at all. "And if we don't?" Ian replied.

"Than we'll sell you to slavery while we do in your girlfriend, bastard."

In unison, me and Ian did a left and right uppercut right in his smug face.

"New plan!" Ian shouted. "Blow up every bandit you even glance at!" He seemed enraged.

"Hell Yeah! That's my kind of plan!" I yelled back. "Dynast Bras!"

"Freeze Arrow!" Ian shouted.

"Fire Ball!"

"Flare Lance!"

"Burst Flare!"

"Dam Bras!"

After millions more explosive, every bandit was slain. Once we finished nosing around, we found a whole room full of treasure.

"About time," I stated, starting to divide up the treasure. There was lots. Gems, gold, clothes scrolls, and almost anything else you could think of. "Okay, I get the rubies and amethysts. You get the sapphires and emeralds."

"Deal!" he said. "Next on business, this is a magic short sword that deals more damage than a normal short sword and doesn't break by extreme pressure. While this necklace powers up shamanism water spells, my specialty. I suggest you take the sword while I keep the necklace."

For the next hour, we divided the treasure by the two of us. "Well, that covers all the treasure I can carry."

"Really? But there's still quite a bit," Ian said.

"And it's all mine!" said an oh-so familiar, yet scary voice.

"Oh god…" I said and turned around slowly to see a scary figure before me.

"We meet again, Lina Inverse! OH HOHOHOHO!!" laughed Naga the serpent. "How dare you break into my bandit camp!"


	2. End of the bandits

Slayers Nightmares

Well, here's Chp. 2. It's slowely continuing.

"You're BANDIT camp?!" Lina sputtered. "Naga, Why the hell do you have a bandit camp!?"

"Isn't it obvious, simple minded Lina? Since YOU ditched me, I was strapped of cash for food. At first I thought of bandit hunting, but I knew that was a low thing to do, and here I find YOU doing it, so I know I was right. OH HO HO HO HO!" she laughed.

Lina couldn't wait to kill her.

"So I thought 'What would Lina not do?' and then it hit me. I should BE a bandit leader. It would be so much less work and I know you would not only never think of it, you would be too scared to try it if you DID try, not that you would! OH HO HO HO HO!"

_Oh fuck it, _Lina thought. _Of all the people I would expect to turn, Naga is one name I wouldn't put on that list._

"Ms. Lina?" Ian whispered. Lina totally forgot he was around.

"What is it, Ian?" Lina whispered back harshly.

"Who," he asked, at a tone loud enough for Naga to here, "is this idiotic, self-centered, practically naked, and lazy bitch with a laugh that can send a mazoku running?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Naga shouted. "How dare you insult my intelligence, pride, clothes, and my superior laugh?!"

"You forgot activeness, idiot," he replied. _I hope I never tick him off, _Lina thought.

"Why you – DEMONA-" she started to cast.

"Mirror Shield," Ian cast. When he did, a transparent wall formed in front of him.

"-CRYSTAL!" Naga finished casting. The spell came straight for Ian, until his barrier absorbed it. Not a second later, the spell came out of the shield and hit Naga, freezing her in solid ice.

"What type of spell was that?" Lina asked.

"Demona crystal?" Ian asked.

"No, Mirror shield."

"A difficult black magic spell," was all he said. "Evidently, Ms. Lina, why didn't you use your talismans?"

Without thinking how he knew about them, she replied, "Since I destroyed Darkstar, they don't work."

A gleam went into his eye. "If you sell them to me, I'll tell you where to replace them," he offered.

_It's too good to let up, but he isn't getting them that easily. _"I want an additional two hundred thousand gold with that offer."

"I'll counter that offer with not only info on new talismans, but I get to follow you around and pay all your meals for two months."

_SCORE!! _"Deal!" Lina shot back. _Free food! La la la la la! _

As she handed over her talismans, Ian told her, "My home town hold talismans that work a little better than these. They're powered by the true elements of fire, water, wind, and earth." He pulled out a necklace with a crystal on it. "I stole the water talisman when I left."

"Well then, let's go," Lina said and started walking out. Ian followed. "Wait. As much as I don't want to," she looked at the new Naga statue, "I can't leave her here."

"Oh, that isn't a problem," Ian replied. "We bring her along and watch her suffer when we don't pay for her meals."

_He's evil, _Lina thought. "Ok, I can watch her suffer."

"Than let's go," he said pushing Naga along.

That's Chp. 2. R&R please.


	3. Their first battle

Slayers Nightmares

The story is slow, but trust me, the action will come soon, maybe in this chapter, quite likely next chapter.

It was morning when Lina woke up next day.

The new group had bunked in Lydon and thawed out Naga, who was asleep by the time they got to her mouth.

Lina walked downstairs to find Gourry and Ian already waiting for her.

"Morning, sunshine," Gourry said.

"Morning, Gourry," Lina replied, already use to him saying that.

"How was the sleep?" Ian asked.

"Bad," Lina replied, fllowed by Naga laughing meniacly upstairs. "She woke up in the middle of the night."

"Who are you calling a 'she' Lina? OH HO HO HO HO!" came Naga from the stairs. "You pulled a nasty trick on me last night. I was so cold!"

"Maybe if you actually _wore_ something, you wouldn't have gotten so cold," Ian said, out of the blue.

"Why you little-" Naga started tosay, but then she put her hand to her stomach. "Oh my. I haven't eaten in awhile. Ok, Lina, you get to pay for me." After that she sat down at the table.

"No, I'm not, Naga," Lina said. "Since I get free meals from this guy here," she waved at Ian, "I don't have to pay for you."

"What?!" Naga and Gourry both said at the same time. Lina totally forgot that she hadn't filled in Gourry on last nights raid, so she filled him and Naga in.

At the end of her speech, Ian asked Lina, "Is Gourry a companion of yours?"

"Yeah," Lina replied.

"Then I guess I'll pay for him, too," he said, casually.

"Alright! Free food for two months!" Gourry replied.

"What about me?!" Naga asked. "I'm one of Lina's companions too!"

"Considering the fact that I added Mr. Gourry on my deal, I'm cutting it as it is," he replied. When he looked at Naga with a grimace, he froze, and turned away from Naga, keeping his eyes shut. "Lina," he whispered, "help."

Lina was confused, so she looked over at Naga. She was staring at Ian with big puppy dog eyes. She even sniveled a bit.

"How?" Lina whispered back.

"Make her stop that," Ian whspered. Then Naga went close to his face with her puppy dog face. It was about two seconds before Ian said, "Alright! I'll pay for you too if you stop with the puppy dog eyes and promise me you won't do them again!"

"I promise," Naga replied, stopping the puppy dog eyes, now with a smile on her face. "OH HO HO HO HO! You have fallen prey to the 'Naga Puppy Dog Eye Attack!'"

"I'll get you back for that," he whispered. We all ordered, and as we started eating, Ian smirked.

Naga looked up. "What?" she asked Ian.

Then he pounced. "Counter-attack! Fork-Knife Slice!" He then quickly sliced off some of Naga's bacon and put it in his mouth. "That makes us even."

"OH HO HO HO HO!" Naga laughed. "Do you think you'll get away with stealing the Great Naga'a food?! I think not! Naga Omelet-Bacon Swap!" Using her fork, se lunged for Ian's omelet.

"Defensive Measure!" Ian shouted. "Sacrafice!" He used his fork and, with lightning speed, stole Lina's sausage and made Naga get the sausage and replaced it with her half-eaten bacon.

"How dare you use my brekfast as a shield, Ian?!" Lina shouted. "Lina Copy Counter-attack! Fork-Knife Slice!" She swipped the rest of Ian's bacon and was about to eat it.

"Oh no you don't!" Naga shouted. "Reverse Maneuver! Rock Replacement!" She took a rock and swapped it with the bacon on Lina's fork, causing Lina to about to bite into a rock.

"Never!" Gourry shouted. "Guardian Defense! Lina Head Hit!" Gourry hit Lina's head, stopping Lina from eating the rock.

"Guardian my ass!" Lina shouted. "Lina Secret Technique! Slipper Slash!" She slashed Gourry's face with a hidden slipper. The rock was in it.

"Why you-" The fight went on all through breakfast. By the time all the food was eaten, everyone had a bruise on them and pieces of food was layed on the table. The manager walked over, and Ian had to pay a little extra to repay him for the disturbance.

"Even with all that bandt booty, I had to pay him over 2000 gold. That hurt," Ian silently complained. "It was much easier o pay for my brother and sisters. This is overkill."

"Let the buyer beware," Lina stated. "You thought that, just because I'm a girl, I don't eat much, do you?"

"That and the fact that you are one of those stupid people who can eat as much as an elephant and look no bigger than my arm. You even match the height," Ian replied.

_Ten seconds later…_

Gourry was dragging the limp body of Ian. Ian had burns all over his body, his nose was bleeding, and it looked like his finger was broken.

"That was payback," Lina replied.

They continued walking for about two hours. Ian hadn't recovered, but he was walking along, healing his finger, and muttering curses under his breath.


	4. Insert interesting chapter title

Slayers Nightmares

We find ourselves in the peaceful town of Sildar.

Our group is in front of the twenty foot tall gate with soldiers watching them, arrows knocked.

"I don't see the problem," Lina said. "We just want to get in the town for the night."

"Tell that to those soldiers who look ready to attack," Naga replied.

"Hey!" Ian shouted up to the soldiers, "Why won't you let us in?!"

"You are not of dress!" One of the soldiers shouted back.

"Which one of us are you talking about?!" Ian shouted.

"All of you!" Another soldier shouted, "One of you is wearing nothing but a bikini, another one is a boy with long hair, the third one is wielding a dagger, and your hair is blue!"

"What's wrong with that?!" Lina, Naga, and Ian shouted back.

"You guys are hideous!"

"Why you-" Lina was about to throw a fireball, but Ian hit her.

"Why did you do that?!" Lina asked loudly.

"Plan," he answered. He then looked up at the soldiers. "Lets make a deal!"

"What type of deal?"

"Let us in or we ram the door down!"

"No way, blue haired bastard!"

I could have sworn I saw a twitch in his eye. "You asked for it," Ian muttered. He then turned to Naga. "Naga, for this to work, I need you to run the battering ram."

"Leave it to me! OH HO HO HO HO!"

"Then follow me," Ian said. With that, he led us all about a quarter mile away from the gate, then let out a long, loud whistle.

"I suggest ear plugs, Lina and Gourry," Ian suggested.

"Why?" Gourry asked. Then it was heard. A faint, but hideous sound.

"Oh ho ho ho ho."

"Is that-" Lina then heard it again and got a very scared face. "Gourry, prepare for something scary."

That's when Naga realized what was going on and grinned. "OH HO HO HO HO!"

Almost immediately, a similar laugh resounded.

"Naga,allyours!" Ian said and ran to the side of the road, dragging Lina and Gourry along. Naga lauged, and in unison, all the other ten Naga's who were running toward her laughed. Then Naga and her copies ran in unison toward the gate.

"We need to follow them," Ian said, running after them. Lina and Gourry soon followed.

"**OH HO HO HO HO HO HO! OH HO HO HO HO HO HO!"** All the Naga's stormed straight for the gate. When the soldiers shot arrows, a copy cast a barrier while the original hit the gate with Dill Brand, blowing it up.

After an hour, the town and all the inhabitants were gone or stomped flat. The original Naga was in the middle of the wreckage, laughing her head off. Where the other Naga's went, no one knows. Ian, Lina, and Gourry were next to Naga, looking at the wreckage.

"Ian I must ask," Naga said, not laughing anymore, "Where did you find my homunculas?"

"They found me, dam it!" Ian said, infuriated, "they were causing a big ruckace in the town and I was dumb enough to pay for what they did. Afterwards, they wouldn't leave me alone! I never even got their names before I met you!"

Then an explosion went off around them. When the smoke cleared, the group had small burn marks around them and a mazoku was in front of them.

"Hello again, ice boy," the mazoku said to Ian, "It's been awhile."

"Not long enough," Ian replied. He looked more damaged than all of us.

"Do you know this guy, Ian?" Lina asked.

"Sadly, yes. His name is Krolar. He's a fire demon who's hated me for a while. We…" Ian said, "have a history."

"You say that as if they don't know," Krolar said.

"Know what?" Lina asked.

"I'll tell you when you don't cost more than twenty gold to pay for lunch," Ian answered, almost mockingly, "but lets get rid of this _thing _before we got into specifics." As he said that, he chanted a spell. "Freeze Arrow!"

As they hit Krolar, Ian smiled. "Your slow, fire jerk."

"and your dumb," Krolar said, and the ice around him melted. "Unlike last time, I have protection. I'm water-proof now."

"Dam," was all Ian said, but then I acted. "Fireball!"

The fireball exploded on contact, but didn't affect Krolar at all.

"I'm a fire demon, little girl," Krolar said.

"LITTLE GIRL?!" Lina shouted, "I'll kill you! _Darkness beyond twilight, Crimson beyond blood that –" _ Ian held a hand in front of her.

"He's mine," Ian said, and then he walked in front of Lina. Lina's old talismans were on him.

_"Chaos of the four gods, I call upon thee." _A dark aura surrounded him. _"Ruby Eye, Chaotic Blue, Death Fog, and Reincarnation of Dark Star, Lina Inverse." _The talismans lit up like before.

"What?" Lina questioned himself. _I am a reincarnation of Dark Star?_ Suddenly, Lina felt tired. Ian was chanting a really long spell. The more he chanted, the more Lina got weakened.

"Iceo Beam!" Ian shouted. He thrust his hands out and a large beam shot out of his hands. It hit Krolar, and for a while, all you could see was the beam. Lina was so exausted, she could barely stay conscious. Then the beam receded, and what was Krolar was now a pure ice statue of him. Just as Lina saw him, the statue shattered, and Lina blacked out…

What a bad place to end, huh? Okay, now you have a reason to send hate reviews at me. Wasn't this chapter confusing or what? Just so your not too mad, I'll give you a small sneak preview…

_Lina was stunned. "Why was the talismans calling upon my power?"_

_"Because you're the new Dark Star," Ian explained. When Lina looked puzzeled, Ian added, "You're a demon now."_

I hope this doesn't ruin anything. R&R, please. I can't wait to hear you suffer. I'm a sadist…


	5. Clashes and more clashes

Slayers Nightmares

Here's Chapter four. I think It'll be lots of explaining, but I might sneak in a battle or two. Enjoy!

Lina awoke with a jolt. She was in a makeshift bed and surrounded by, what she realized in a bit, the ruins of Sildar. Gourry was above her with relieved eyes, then he perked up.

"Morning, sunshine," he said.

"I think it's still night," Lina retorted.

"Really?" Gourry looked around. "Oh, I guess it is." A left uppercut came two seconds later from Lina, sending him flying.

"Lina's up," came the voice of Naga. Lina looked around and found Naga and Ian by a fire, not looking at her at all. Ian had just turned his head to look at Lina.

"Man, you slept like a log!" Ian said, coming over to her and bringing a plate of food. "I've only seen one person sleep for three days straight in my life!"

Lina didn't even get one piece of food in her mouth, she was so shocked. "Three days?! I was asleep for three days?!"

"Yeah, and Ian wouldn't let us touch your stuff for one second," Naga replied. "I so wanted to steal all you own."

_Two seconds later…_

Naga was completely covered in ice. She had burn marks on her, too.

"Lets get back to the topic," Lina said, eaing. "For starters, why did I get knocked out?"

"When I used your energy to power my attack, I took too much," was Ian's reply.

"How were you sucking my energy?" Lina asked. She had already eaten all the food on her plate.

"From the talismans you sold me," Ian replied again.

Lina was stunned. "Why were the talismans calling upon my power?"

"Because you're the new Darkstar," Ian explained. When Lina looked puzzled, Ian added, "You're a demon now."

"WHAAAT?!?!?!?!" Lina yelled. She was on her feet, staring at Ian with giant eyes. "What the hell do you mean I'm a demon?!"

"No kidding," Gourry replied. "She already was a demon." He got torched right afterwards.

"Anyway," Ian said, ignoring the burning smell, "It's common knowledge that by destroying a demon, you get that demon's power. Since even mid-rank demons don't affect you at all, you have to aim for high-rank demons."

"But I've killed Gaav, Hellmaster, and a portion of Shabranigdo!" Lina yelled. "Why haven't I had any change to me by now?!"

"Because you haven't acknowledged the fact," Ian continued. "You have to know you have the power before you use it."

"Then why hasn't my strength been drained every time someone chants Gaav Flare or Laguna Blast?"

"With a new source of power, you need a new chant for the spell," Ian said, almost in an obvious tone, "that's why the talismans didn't work before. Because you were chanting the wrong spell."

"I have a question," Naga said. She had thawed out and was listening to the conversation. "What's the benefit of having this kind of power?"

"Well," Ian started to explain, "As I said before, you technically become a demon. That means you get increased speed, more energy, and you get mild blasts of energy when anger is all around you, but only once in a while."

"Here's a question," Gourry asked. Everyone looked at him, waiting for something dumb, but they never got it. "How is it that you know this?"

"Good point," Naga continued. "How do you know all this when various magic guilds don't know?"

"Yeah, so spill out your ource of info!" Lina said, now holding a fireball in her hands.

"I already told you this," Ian said, not worrying about the fireball, "I will tell you how I got my info when Lina doesn't cost as much or more than twenty gold at lunch time."

"Well, crap," Lina said, throwing her fireball in some random direction. When no one heard an explosion, they all turned to where Lina threw her fireball. A young elf boy was there, holding the fireball in his hands. He looked roughly seventeen years old and had a falcion sword on his hip. He was completely covered in red and black and had red hair. His eyes were black.

"What a waste of a fireball," the boy said, tossing it up and down. "Why didn't you throw it at knockers or blue boy?" He threw it at the gang.

"Mirror Shield!" Ian shouted. The ball went into the swirling something or another and shot right back at the boy, who easily sidestepped it.

"Not good enough, blue boy," the boy stated.

"Dammit, Faren!" Ian shouted. "Why the hell are you here?!"

Faren looked a little confused at first, but then got a smile on his face. "I was just passing by, heard your conversation, and decided to join you guys."

"Well what a welcome present, throwing a fireball at us!" Lina shouted.

'OH HO HO HO HO!" came Naga, "do you really think you can stand up to Naga the Serpent?"

"Heh," Faren replied, "Do you really think you can stand up to a mazoku, knockers?"

"Oh god, not another wannabe," Lina sighed, "did you do something to this guy too, Ian?"

"No," Ian replied, now holding a blue sphere, "but I'm about to. Freeze Bullet!" Ian threw the sphere with a little oomph. The ball jus bounced off him.

"Easy, blue boy," Faren said, "why would you attack someone stronger than you?" An aura of red light surrounded him. "Summon Fire Demon!" A portal went in front of him, and a demon came out.

"Screw him," Ian said. "Dolph Straph!" A shockwave of water came straight for the demon, blowing it to shreds. Then Lina reacted.

"Elemekia Lance!" The beam came straight for Faren, but richoched right off.

"Is that all the new Darkstar can do?" Faren retorted. Lina was pissed and chanted her next spell. "Dynast Bras!"

Lightning rained from the sky, hitting Faren with tons of electricity, but Faren didn't looked scratched.

"Well, your impressive for a demi-human, Darkstar," Faren laughed.

"Celestial Blast!"

Faren's grin turned to worry, and he warped out just before a giant beam of white light came for his face. He reappeard right afterwards. "Where the hell did you get a god, Darkstar?"

"She always had one," came a voice from behind the gang. The voice belonged to a woman with blonde hair. She was as tall as Gourry and had a long sword on her back. She was wearing white all over and had breasts about two sizes down from Naga's.

"**AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" came a scream from our mighty sorceress, Lina. "LUNA!!"

Well, there you have it, Chapter 5. Talk about a twist, huh? I finally got Luna in the story. Yes, I had always planned for Luna. Please review. I hope to get a new chapter in next week, but you never know. I bet your all yelling, "SADIST!" at me. Ha!


	6. Scary Lina

Slayers Nightmares

Okie-dokie, I'm running out of ideas, so I need help! After this chapter, I don't know where the story goes, so if you have suggestions, please send them in. Enjoy!

"Well introduced, little sister," Luna said with a smirk on her face. "I'm glad my name was yelled at a _mazoku._"

"Well, hell," Lina muttered. "Anyway, no time. We need to get rid of this demon."

"Um," Faren looked creepy, "may I ask why?"

Lina was speechless. She didn't know why she was fighting this demon. "Why are we fighting you?"

"You know," Naga said, "That is a good question. He doesn't look like he has money on him, he didn't do anything, so why are we giving this guy a hard time?"

The whole party was thinking, but Ian looked like he was thinking _really_ hard. Finally, Ian spoke up.

"Dam, there is no reason why were fighting him," Ian looked depressed saying that. "I guess there's-" he paused, then gritted his teeth, "-nothing wrong with him."

Luna swore really loudly. "LINA! YOU MADE ME USE MY POWERS FOR NOTHING?!?!"

Lina ran so fast, she couldn't be seen anymore in five seconds. Luna ran just as fast after her.

"Well," Gourry said, finally, "I guess this means Faver is going to follow us around now?"

"Bingo," Faren said, "and it's Faren."

After a whole lot of running and eating, the day is over and our party walks into their next town.

"Hey, Ian," Lina asked, "your familiar with the landscape around here. Where are we?"

"This is Qith, the woodland city," Ian explained. "This particular city is the only place to find Tik wood, the hardest wood in the whole world."

"I thought Darkstar knew where we were," Faren said, half-surprised.

"I've never been here before," Lina retorted, "and would you stop calling me Darkstar?"

"Can't," Faren replied. "I shall only know you as Darkstar, what with me being a mazoku and all."

"You call us all nicknames," Lina stated. "I'm Darkstar, Naga's Knockers, Ian's Blue-boy, Gourry's No-brains, and Luna's Demi-god."

"So what?" Faren retorted. "Are you going to stop me from saying that, Darkstar?"

"You're a waste of energy, Faren," Luna casually said. Faren almost fell over. "Anyway," Luna continued, "here's a place to eat. Let's go, and Ian, if your paying for Lina, your paying for me, too."

"And since I have no money, your paying for me as well," Faren said right afterwards. Ian actually fell over.

"Why me?" Ian muttered.

When they went in, Lina had a determined face on her. Gourry whispered, "what's going on, Lina?"

"I want to know what Ian's hiding," Lina whispered back. "If I can be cheap on my meal today, Ian has to answer my question."

"Oh," Gourry replied.

As soon as they got their menus, Lina had to do what she was about to do, she knew it. She had to know Ian's secret. The waiter came by and took down their orders. When they got to Lina, she said, "I'm not really hungery, thank you."

"As usual, Lina," the waiter replied. Lina got confused for a second, but was cut off by everyone staring at her, save for Ian.

"You'll never make it," Ian replied. "Your going to order something, and all the items on the menu are one hundred gold each."

"I'll manage," Lina responded.

"Of course," Ian continued, "that also means you can't steal food off of someone else's plate."

"I'll. Manage," came Lina through gritted teeth.

The food came, and everyone started eating, save for Lina. Ian was mocking her a bit by slowly chewing his food while looking at her. Lina was so hungry.

"Give up, Lina," Ian said between bites. "You'll never make it."

"Try me," Lina responded.

The meal kept going and Lina was starting to crack. The food looked soooo good. She was beginning to drool as she looked at Naga's plate.

_This is so hard. _Lina thought. _But I can do it, I have to._

Every second to Lina felt like an hour. Lina was so hungry. Everyone was half way through their meals when Ian said, "You give up yet?"

"Never," came a weak Lina.

"Suit yourself," Ian said, and slowly bit into his steak, chewing it longingly at Lina. She was going to go nuts soon.

Luna took a little bite of her salad. Faren barely touched his food. Naga was done and Gourry was nearly finished. Ian, however, was taunting Lina to his best of abilities. Lina was about to go nuts when the door of the inn opened and Lina's Shadow mirror copy came in.

"Good morning, Everyone!" came the other Lina. She was very optimistic and had priestess clothes on.

Faren choked.

"Good morning, Lana," came all the people eating, save for the slayers gang.

"How's everyone, today?" She casually walked to the waiter.

"Good, Miss Lana," the waiter responded. "We have a special guest, actually."

"A guest? Who?" Lana asked.

"Why, Miss Lina and Lady Naga, Miss Lana."

It was Lina and Naga's turn to choke.

NOTE: How Lina choked, I have no idea.

"Yay!" Lana came over to the Slayers gang. "It's so good to see you, Miss Lina!" Lana gave Lina a big hug. "And you too, Lady Naga," Lana continued, giving Naga a hug as well.

Ian wasn't eating anymore. His eyes were wide open, staring at the creepy Lana. Gourry and Luna were staring as well. Faren was hiding. Well.

"Miss Lina, whose the cutie with blonde hair?" Lana asked, striding over to Gourry. Gourry blushed.

"My n-names G-gourry," was all Gourry could say.

"God, your cute," Lana replied, hugging Gourry. Then she strided over to Luna.

"Hi, Miss Luna," Lana said. "I know you don't really like Lina, but do try to like her. She and I are quite nice." Luna started to gape.

Then she went to Ian. "This one has cute hair," Lana said. "and he looks like he's a peacekeeper." She hugged Ian. 'I don't even know your name yet, but I like you already."

Ian looked paralyzed.

"So, Miss Lina, how are you doing?" Lana asked, getting a chair and sitting next to Lina.

"Well, I'm off to find a power source to replace the talisman's I had," Lina said. She was too weak to try to lie.

"Oh, Miss Lina," Lana said. "You must be trying to increase your magic to help everyone. You are so nice, Miss Lina!"

Ian was in a time warp, from what it looked like. Gourry joined him.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have to heal some sick people at the hospital," Lana started to leave. "Take care, Miss Lina! You too, Lady Naga! I liked metting all your friends! Goodbye, everyone!"

"Goodbye, Miss Lana," came the response. When Lana left, all the other customers went back to normal.

The Slayers gang was flabbergasted. No one was prepared to see the polar opposite of Lina. Everyone of the slayers gang were staring off into space.

Finally, Ian responded. His voice was as if he saw the scariest thing on earth. "Check, please."

The slayers gang went up to a big room where no one could hear them. Faren had come out of hiding and joined them. When the door closed, Luna spoke.

"Who was that walking horror?!"

"It looked just like Lina, but it was smothering me," Faren replied.

"That thing had to have some demon inside," Gourry stated. "It was really scary!"

"Lina!" Luna whipped around to Lina. "If you created that monstrosity, I'll kill you ten fold!"

"It's not my fault!" Lina cowered. "Some guy did it! It wasn't me! I had no say in the matter when it was created!"

"You think THAT'S bad?" Naga proclaimed. "You should be grateful mine wasn't with her!"

"There's a demon NAGA, too?!" Gourry shouted. "The Horror!"

"Huh, that's odd," Faren said, out of the blue.

"WHAT?!" shouted the rest of the gang.

"Where's Ian?"

There was a pause, then everyone looked around. Ian wasn't there at all. The gang looked through the whole tavern, but he wasn't there.

"Oh wait," came Faren. "I know where he is."

"Where?" responded Luna.

"He went into his own little dimension," Faren explained. "Last time he was pitted against that type of monster, he went there and screamed bloody murder."

"I can understand the screaming," Naga pondered, "but isn't making a particular dimensional area a spell only mazoku can use?"

"And I thought you and Ian never met," poked Lina. "What do you mean 'last time'?"

"They had to have met if Ian didn't want Faren around," Luna deducted.

"Considering the fact that Lina defeated Ian at his bet," Faren said, "he'll tell you sooner or later."

"I never beat Ian," Lina said.

"No, but your clone did. Henceforth, you did," Faren said.

"Makes sense," Naga pondered. "So what's this big secret of his?"

"He's a mazoku," Faren said, casually. "My brother, in fact."

So, what do you think? This chapter is a little bit late, but you guy's managed one extra day, right?

Please review.


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